The Retribution of Angos
by David McCabe
Summary: A story collaberated between a friend of mine and I. we both took a character and wrote the story as that character, niether of us controlling eachothers character unless it be in a battle. Not strictly fan fiction but inspired by the authors we know and


Retribution of Angos  
  
Chapter  
  
Drasko sat staring across the valley, knowing what was to become of  
  
it if the didn't succeed. And what if he didn't? He put the thought  
  
straight out of his head. He must succeed. He had promised Blancor  
  
he would succeed. If he didn't the world was lost and all good things  
  
in Angos would be destroyed.  
  
He drew his broadsword and saluted Blancor's memory, brandishing it  
  
high in the air. 'I will succeed,' he told himself and returned his  
  
sword to its sheath. He would prevent the atrocities in the future  
  
by destroying it from its origin. Yet he needed to amass a band of  
  
elites, warriors so great that the dragon lord, Maloth, would not  
  
come to power. That at least was the hope. To save his time by  
  
saving this one.  
  
And so he left his perch above the valley and began the long  
  
journey. He knew it would end in conflict yet it had to be done. He  
  
travelled east.  
  
High in the heavily forested mountains of Angos, Skullivar awoke in  
  
his cave and rose, stretching and flexing his gargantuan muscles.  
  
He leaned down and grasped his massive oak club, lifting it with the  
  
ease that not even a grizzly bear could manage and that was the  
  
biggest creature he had ever seen or known...or killed with his  
  
bare hands, he loped out of the cave with his head bowed so as not to  
  
hit the roof. Once out of the cave he stood up to his full height; a  
  
colossal 10 feet, looking around for food in the form of a large  
  
deer, mountain lion, or bear he spotted a deer "Tha strage" (that's  
  
strange) he said with difficulty - it was unusual for deer to come  
  
that close to the cave - he dismissed the thought and with only one  
  
thought in mind "Hungwy" (hungry) he jogged, then ran full pelt at  
  
the deer.  
  
The deer heard a crashing noise as if something was coming towards  
  
him a great speed, he lifted his elegant head and looked around;  
  
there was a gigantic...thing coming straight at him with great  
  
speed.  
  
The deer started to run, but for all it was worth it couldn't outpace  
  
the 10 foot giant coming after him, dodging trees, leaping over  
  
bushes and through streams Skullivar slowly gained on the deer, and,  
  
when at last the deer was tiring he was almost upon it, the deer  
  
stopped because it could not run any further.  
  
Skullivar raised his massive club above his head and brought it down  
  
with such force that the deer's head 'exploded' and splattered all  
  
over the ground and bushes for several meters and the ground shook.  
  
The gigantic ogre picked up what remained of the deer and slung it  
  
over his shoulder. After about half an hour and a mile or two behind  
  
him, Skullivar reached the cave, not in the least tired or out of  
  
breath, he lit a fire using some flint stones he found and bark  
  
scrapings.  
  
From half a mile away the belch could be heard, flocks of birds rose  
  
from the trees and deer ran at full pelt for a short distance until  
  
they realised that nothing shaped like a mountain holding a club was  
  
chasing after them.  
  
Skullivar belched, it was amplified by the cave, he threw the last of  
  
the bones away onto the pile in the corner, full up with deer meat he  
  
settled down to sleep again.  
  
Drasko soared through the air with ease, his wings beating  
  
effortlessly. He could see a forest ahead of him. This must have been the  
  
Haradsta, he thought as he flew. He had studied the old maps in the  
  
resistance especially for this quest. And so he flew onwards, hoping  
  
to see for himself the forest that had been burnt and destroyed by  
  
the dragon lord's armies.  
  
He was over the top of the great trees now and even from above its  
  
beauty took his breath away. In the future there was no real  
  
forests anymore, only desolation. The calm of the sky was  
  
therapeutic and a big change from the polluted air of the future  
  
Angos. Yet this calm was destroyed by a sound so unlikely that it  
  
had Drasko wondering what the hell it was. He could have sworn it  
  
was a belch yet surely there was nothing that could make a sound  
  
that loud.  
  
Drasko was intrigued and he had to check it out. And so he plummeted  
  
to the ground yet gained a perfect landing. He stayed in his dragon  
  
form, as this was a good deal larger than his human one. As a dragon  
  
he reached around eight feet. And so he padded along on all fours.  
  
His heightened senses picked up sounds and smells that were  
  
completely unfamiliar to him but most pungent was the reek of death  
  
in the air. The smell made his dragon senses tingle with  
  
anticipation ... a sensation he tried to keep under control as it  
  
usually led to conflict for food. No, he thought. He must suppress  
  
the urges he felt as a dragon if he wished to gather together his  
  
warriors.  
  
He decided to follow the smell of death and see where it led. He  
  
followed the scent as if it was a trail of rope leading to the death.  
  
It grew ever stronger as he travelled and finally found rest in the  
  
mouth of a cave. Whatever it was that had been killed had resided or  
  
been brought to here. The cave mouth was large enough to walk through  
  
so he did, although he had to fold his wings down flat against his  
  
back lest they scrape across the roof of the cave. And their before  
  
him, sleeping soundly with snore that was more like the roar of a  
  
Delgoth, was the biggest living that Drasko had seen so far.  
  
'What the hell is that?' he whispered to himself.  
  
Skullivar was awakened by the noise of some... thing entering his  
  
cave... HIS cave! No one goes into HIS cave uninvited!  
  
To be more precise he was awakened by the noise of  
  
scraping...claws scraping along the floor of his cave.  
  
Upon opening his eyes all he saw was yet another animal starting a  
  
line to be slaughtered, without fear he lurched to his feet, grabbing  
  
and lifting his club on the way up, one thing that was annoying to  
  
him was that he couldn't rise up to his full height as the cave was  
  
only around 9 feet tall, whereas this...thing could and with  
  
about a foot of headroom. Of course, Skullivar didn't think like  
  
this, he thought more like "Food" or "Break".  
  
In the little room there was in the cave Skullivar lurched into a  
  
run, head bowed, club being held to the side for maximum swing in the  
  
small cave, at full speed he hit the monster with his head bowed and  
  
he brought his club round to hit the monster.  
  
Drasko saw the huge form hurtling towards him and in an instant the  
  
bulk smashed into him. It knocked him back, but unknown to Skullivar  
  
he had knocked him out of the range of his next assault. The giant  
  
club swung and hit the side of the cave, jarring Skullivar's arm.  
  
He let out a cacophonous roar as Drasko backed out to the forest.  
  
When he was there he leapt into the air and hovered, his great wings  
  
beating steadily. Skullivar charged outside expecting to find the  
  
dragon on the ground. He stared around dumbfounded until Drasko  
  
landed almost directly in front of him and rose onto his hind legs.  
  
Skullivar, having finally found a target, aimed a blow with all his  
  
might towards this dragon. Yet the club was caught in Drasko's  
  
clawed hands while his tail swept its self around Skullivar's legs  
  
and pulled him over. In a split second Drasko had risen into the air  
  
again and came crashing down with all his might onto the felled  
  
beast. Skullivar gave a roar of pain and Drasko scrambled off of  
  
him. He rose once more, only to have his tail caught in the  
  
seemingly unbreakable grip of a massive hand and before Drasko could  
  
react he was being spun around in the air two handed by Skullivar.  
  
Skullivar finally let go, sending Drasko hurtling toward the trees.  
  
This display of brute strength sparked something in Drasko's mind  
  
and he wondered if he could turn this creature to his cause. That  
  
thought was cut short as Drasko struck a set of large oaks.  
  
Drasko was getting angry now. The dragon side of him started to show  
  
and he fought for control for that rage was the beginning of the  
  
road to defeat.  
  
The two beasts charged at each other once more yet Drasko was faster  
  
and  
  
just before contact would have been made, he leapt into the air  
  
and let the wind catch his wings.  
  
As Skullivar hurtled underneath him he spun in the air and plummeted  
  
towards Skullivar. The momentum of Skullivar's charge and the power  
  
of which Drasko struck him worked as a combined force and Skullivar  
  
flew forward. He cannoned into a tree head first, splintering the  
  
tree and leaving him dazed for a second.  
  
Yet this was not enough to tire the beast and he rose from the  
  
broken stump of the tree and stood his ground once more. Yet he did  
  
not charge, as Drasko had expected. Instead he walked slowly towards  
  
him, wobbling slightly but still sure footed enough to carry on the  
  
fight, sheer fury and at the same time a maniacal sense of fun,  
  
almost as if this was like a game to Skullivar, showed in his eyes.  
  
Drasko watched in almost disbelief, was this.... thing giving up?  
  
Only time would tell.  
  
Skullivar walked slowly towards his opponent, at last a worthy  
  
opponent. Even the mighty grizzly bears couldn't match his  
  
prodigious strength; Skullivar was beginning to enjoy this.  
  
With his head finally cleared, Skullivar broke into a run, he could  
  
see his opponent getting ready for another hammer-blow, at the last  
  
second Skullivar dove under the monster; rolling and coming back up  
  
now with club in hand. Skullivar lifted himself to his full height  
  
and hefted his club one handed above his head; this was it, do or  
  
die!  
  
He charged forward shouting at the top of his lungs, it was as if  
  
the whole mountain was erupting with his voice, closer and closer he  
  
got to the monster, the monster now charged too, roaring for all he  
  
was worth, blowing great columns or fire into the air, and yet  
  
Skullivar was still unafraid because the bloodlust had taken control  
  
now.  
  
Closer and closer the two fighters came until finally the dragon  
  
lashed out with his arm, knocking Skullivar's legs out from under  
  
him, while almost simultaneously Skullivar brought the club down  
  
with all his might upon the monster and knocked him out cold.  
  
When Skullivar's head hit the cold stone he too was knocked out, the  
  
two were completely unconscious.  
  
Skullivar was the first to awaken, he stood up and barely managed  
  
to stifle the pain coming from his leg, he looked down to see three  
  
long gashes in his leg, he probed them with his fingers; the pain  
  
almost unbearable, luckily no bone was broken or anything too  
  
serious had happened. He decided to grin and bear the pain, so he  
  
limped over to the monster that was just coming round, he wouldn't  
  
kill it, he liked this...thing, this.... worthy opponent. Now he  
  
thought about it, the monster could have come round before him and  
  
killed him, Skullivar owed the monster his life as the dragon owed  
  
Skullivar his.  
  
When Drasko awoke it was to a horrifying sight. Standing over him  
  
was the beast he had just battle. He thought it was going to attack  
  
once more and he braced himself for death. But the final blow never  
  
came. Instead this beast just stood there watching. He could just  
  
about remember going down but also remembered the beast going down  
  
with him. Maybe he owed this beast his life. Maybe it felt the same  
  
way. He tried to get up when he realised he had changed into human  
  
form. He head hurt like hell and when he touched his brow he felt  
  
blood. Never mind, he thought to himself, it would heal quickly. And  
  
so he lay naked, the saddlebag he used to store his possessions when  
  
in dragon form lay on top of him. He quickly retrieved his cloths  
  
from the bag and dressed. It was his usual garb of a loose, white  
  
cotton shirt and black trousers. He also put on his knee length  
  
boots, standard resistance issue. The saddlebag had two attachments  
  
on it and could be quickly converted to a travelling backpack. While  
  
he strapped his broad sword and it's sheathe to his back he spoke  
  
with caution to this thing  
  
'so...what may I call you? And no offence meant but what in Sa's  
  
good earth are you?'  
  
Skullivar watched as the creature came round and slowly...changed,  
  
it surprised Skullivar to see a beast transform miraculously into  
  
what he remembered to be a hoo-mun (human). Skullivar stood  
  
transfixed; almost hypnotised by what was happening before his very  
  
eyes, he had always thought of things as.... well.... what they were  
  
and nothing else, but seeing this actually scared him - to see his  
  
only worthy adversary he had ever met suddenly transform into a  
  
pathetic hoo-mun, he could crush it like a common wolf and yet he  
  
still did not.  
  
The hoo-mun rose with a shallow cut on his forehead, the blood was  
  
beginning to congeal already and the hoo-mun gathered some equipment,  
  
some looked like weapons to Skullivar although nothing that could do  
  
any more damage than the claws of a brown bear.  
  
The hoo-mun spoke some words Skullivar couldn't understand but he  
  
dismissed them and said his name "Ah Skullivar" (I Skullivar) and  
  
thumped his massive chest with one huge fist then stamped one huge  
  
foot against the ground; several birds rose from the trees, he then  
  
held out his club and said "Tuch it" (touch it), this was his  
  
greeting, the weapons were always held out for the other to touch -  
  
harmful end towards the other being.  
  
'Tuch it', the beast had said. Its grasp of words was obviously  
  
basic and his vocabulary small, if existant at all. Drasko  
  
immdeiatly knew that this was a creature of little intelligence. It  
  
had its club outstretched towards him and gestured that he should  
  
do the same.  
  
He was sure that this was some sort of friendship ritual or a salute  
  
to the end of a battle. Either way he decided to comply. So he drew  
  
his broadsword from it's sheathe on his back and touched the blade to  
  
the club. He waited to see what this... what should he call it? He  
  
decided to name it after a rare beast he had heard of living in this  
  
time, an ogre. Yes that would do, an ogre.  
  
Drasko had assumed its name was skullivar althought he didnt know if  
  
the ogre understood him. So he awaited Skullivars next move, as he  
  
was unfamiliar with this ritual. Was it to be a friendship forged in battle? 


End file.
